Though Donald Trump has sometimes been called “Teflon Don”—a label that connects not just to his own name but to his modus operandi—the truth is not that he has escaped consequences for everything, just his most egregious behavior. He has lost defamation cases, his company got dinged for tax evasion, and he has been charged with byzantine business crimes. But his biggest sins—especially trying to steal the 2020 presidential election—have gone unpunished.
That pattern could break soon. Trump issued a statement this [week] saying that he received a “target letter” from Special Counsel Jack Smith of the Justice Department Sunday night. He said Smith gave him four days to report to a grand jury investigating Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Such letters are usually a prelude to an indictment.